LIVERPOOL forward Craig Bellamy believes the club deserve Champions League football but knows it will take more than a Carling Cup victory to prove they are worthy of a return to Europe’s elite.

A penalty shootout win over npower Championship side Cardiff at Wembley yesterday ended the Reds’ six-year trophy drought and earned them a place in next season’s Europa League.

Having failed to qualify for Europe last May that was the minimum requirement from the current campaign, but Bellamy knows everyone at the club are setting their sights higher.

“It’s not the end of the season for us now we’ve won a trophy,” said the Wales international, who came on as a substitute on the hour against his hometown club.

“The pressure is on the players at this club to perform day in and day out to the highest level and that’s what we have to continue to try to do. Champions League football is what every footballer at every club wants.

“It’s the place where this club deserves to be but we’ve got to go out and prove that on a regular basis and hopefully we’re able to do that.”

The gap to fourth place in

the Barclays Premier League was stretched to seven points at the weekend after victories for Arsenal and Chelsea, but Liverpool have a match in hand and host the Gunners on Saturday.

Much has been made of the effect of bringing some silverware back to Anfield and how it can provide a springboard for more trophies, but Bellamy has stressed there is no guarantee it will happen.

“We will have to wait and see on that. Some thought Birmingham’s (Carling Cup victory) last year was a platform for that and it certainly wasn’t,” said the 32-year-old, referring to City’s relegation from the top flight.

Bellamy admitted he had a lot of sympathy for Cardiff, where he spent last season on loan, who put up a brave fight at Wembley.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game, which obviously it proved to be,” he said. “Finals are very, very difficult and that proved to be (the case) again.

“We thought we were going to win it towards the end but they fought back and credit to them, they were outstanding.

“Unfortunately for them and fortunately for us, no-one is going to remember what happened, it’s just going to be another trophy to this club’s great history.

“So I do feel a little bit sorry for them, but it’s a trophy for us.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool vice-captain Jamie Carragher admits winning the Carling Cup was a relief for himself and Steven Gerrard in particular.

The Scouse pair have been at the club since they were schoolboys and, with them both in their early 30s, they were keen not to allow the chance to end a six-year trophy drought slip through their fingers.

“It has been too long,” said the 34-year-old centre-back.

“We’re coming to the latter stages of our career, myself and Stevie, and because we have gone so long without winning anything you don’t want to finish your career going seven or eight years without.

“It was a relief for both of us to get a trophy, for ourselves and the club.

“It maybe takes the pressure off now for the next year or two and we can relax and go on to try to win more trophies, hopefully bigger trophies.”

The last trophy Liverpool won prior to Sunday’s victory over Cardiff was the 2006 FA Cup but that was at the Millennium Stadium, so for Carragher and Gerrard playing a final at Wembley for their club was extra special.

“It was a big day for everyone. For a lot of players it was their first big game and first trophy, which is great,” he said.

“But even for people like me and Stevie to play at Wembley for Liverpool was always something we dreamt of doing.

“Thankfully we’ve done it now and we have got a trophy as well and hopefully we can go there again sometime this season (in the FA Cup).”